Posted on 05/20/2003 9:16:26 AM PDT by Aurelius
We are here today both to remember and to honor our Confederate forefathers. We remember and honor them, first of all, because they are OURS. They made us what we are. To honor one's forebears is a deep and universal human inclination.
General Lee, in his farewell address to his men, told them that their four-year struggle for freedom had been marked by "unsurpassed courage and fortitude" and that their "valor and devotion" had endeared them to their countrymen.
Our Confederate forefathers' "valor and devotion" did more than make for themselves a place in the hearts of future generations of Southerners. They also won the lasting admiration of every one in the world who values skill, sacrifice, and indomitable spirit in defense of freedom.
This is why our bloody St. Andrews cross appeared spontaneously among many peoples of Europe during their celebrations of liberation from foreign tyranny. Our fathers are admired by the world to a degree seldom granted to lost causes. Their battle flag is a universal symbol of man's striving for freedom.
Gen. James Johnston Pettigrew wrote home on his way to Gettysburg, a few days before he was mortally wounded, "Our reputation, next to the Greeks, will be the most heroic of nations."
What the learned Confederate meant was that, from the long perspective of history, the human action most exemplary of heroism was the stand of the small Greek city-states against the mighty Persian empire in the 5th century B.C. Next to that, most worthy of lasting admiration from the same long perspective, were the outnumbered soldiers of the Confederacy in their resistance to a ruthless conqueror.
Let us remember and never under-estimate their sacrifice. One fourth of the white men dead. "Our gallant little State of South Carolina," as John C. Calhoun called it, lost 12,000 lives in World War II. For World War II to have had the same effect on the population of South Carolina as the War to Prevent Southern Independence, there would have had to have been 300,000 deaths! Let me repeat that.
And the survivors' sacrifices, too, must be remembered by us. General W.R. Cox of North Carolina had been wounded six times previously, but still what was left of his brigade drove back a larger enemy force the day before the surrender at Appomattox. Wade Hampton's restored government of South Carolina in 1876 was almost literally a government of one-legged men because so many of its members had lost limbs in the war, though that had not stopped them from fighting to the last, often strapped in the saddle. These are merely a few examples, out of tens of thousands, of Confederate "courage and fortitude."
And what deeds they had done! I will read from the memoir of the Union General Don Carlos Buell, one of the more generous and decent of the enemy commanders. Here is what he told Northern readers to keep in mind should they be tempted to grow boastful about their victory:
"It required a naval fleet and 15,000 troops to advance against a weak fort, manned by less than 100 men, at Fort Henry; 35,000 with naval cooperation, to overcome 12,000 at Fort Donelson; 60,000 to secure victory over 40,000 at Shiloh; 120,000 to enforce the retreat of 65,000 after a month's fighting and maneuvering at Corinth; 100,000 were repelled by 60,000 in the first campaign against Richmond; 70,000 with a powerful naval force, to inspire the campaign which lasted nine months against 40,000 at Vicksburg; 90,000 to barely withstand the assault of 60,000 at Gettysburg. 115,000 sustaining a frightful repulse from 60,000 at Fredericksburg; 100,000 attacked and defeated by 50,000 at Chancellorsville; 85,000 held in check for two days by 40,000 at Antietam; 70,000 defeated at Chattanooga, and beleagured by 40,000 at Chattanooga to Atlanta . . . . ; and finally 120,000 to overcome 60,000 with exhaustion after a struggle of a year in Virginia."
I cite this testimony from an honest Union commander because there is a prevailing tendency among historians these days to slight and ridicule the efforts of our forefathers to keep their freedom.
Very different from today's historians was the comment about our Confederate forebears made by Union hero Joshua Chamberlain at Appomattox; and Chamberlain was typical of real fighting Union soldiers:
"[There stood] before us . . . the embodiment of manhood, men whom neither toils and sufferings, nor the fact of death, nor hopelessness could bend from their resolve . . . "
Another hard- fighting Union soldier, Ambrose Bierce, was enraged by a Republican bloody shirt orator who wanted to prevent decoration of the graves of Confederate soldiers. Bierce wrote some verses addressed to the Unionist politician:
"The brave respect the brave. The brave
Respect the dead; but you---you draw
That ancient blade, the ass's jaw,
And shake it o'er a hero's grave."
Compatriots here today, no generation of Southerners has ever faced a greater challenge in defending the honor of our forefathers. If we don't do it, it will not be done. We need observances like this. We need to record knowledge about the war that is still carried in family lore and not written down. We need re-enactments. But most of all, we need to realize the nature of the struggle that has been thrust upon us by unscrupulous aggressors against our heritage.
The current President of the United States, while governor of a Southern state, sent flunkies sneaking in the middle of the night to remove two harmless Confederate plaques from a state building. He feared any shred of Confederate remembrance might embarrass his campaign for President.
The current Vice-President of the United States refused to be seen at a funeral in our state if the Confederate flag was displayed or "Dixie" played.
These are the acts of "conservative" Republicans, not of Politically Correct leftists. These are the acts of men who would not be in power without the votes of descendants of Confederates. These are men who carry out their acts in secret, who do not even have the courage to wield the weapon of the ass's jaw.
These actions are vile, insulting, and unforgivable. They must have appropriate response. These people are repulsed or embarrassed by that flag which is to us a beautiful and hallowed object.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was not afraid to be seen in the same place as our battleflag. Neither was Harry Truman, nor Jimmy Carter, nor Ronald Reagan. If you will look at the magazines and newsreels from World War II (and later wars) you will see the Confederate battle flag flying over the tents of American fighting men in the Pacific and painted on American fighting planes, and even appearing in Hollywood versions of the war.
The people who want to suppress our symbols are not friendly folks who will cease and desist if we politely tell them the war was not all about slavery and that we are today good and loyal Americans who only want to honor our heritage. These people don't know what you are talking about when you mention heritage, the recognition of your own forebears. They are not interested in a balanced weighing of the evidence of history. For them history is an abstraction and a weapon of power over others.
In my opinion, it is not really the flag they hate---it is us. They hate Southerners and are determined to defame and eradicate everything Southern. They are repeating a pattern evident before in American history. We are not in a fight over historical interpretation, we are in a war against our culture. Until we realize that, until we are prepared to fight the enemy on a broad front we will not make much progress in truly preserving the honor of those we remember today.
I am certain we can restore our heritage to its rightful place. We need determination. We need the tactical skill that our forefathers used against overwhelming odds. And we need a firm and clear understanding that we Southerners are in a war for our survival as a people---that the relentless barrage of lies against our heritage is more than a series of petty skirmishes about historical interpretation. Despite the enemy's efforts we have a tremendous well-proven advantage on our side. The heritage we remember and honor today validates itself. It is intrinsically powerful and beautiful and good.
Can't morn Confederate Dead?
THEN MORN THE LOSS OF OUR REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLIC!
The Admin says he is suspended.
YOU are INVITED!
FRee dixie,sw
The weight of liberal bricks weren't enough. So what was the final straw?
The AM did not elaborate.
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